Everybody it seems has a favorite acting highlight of Nora Aunor in Ang Kwento ni Mabuti. The veteran
actress squeezes pure acting juice from her bag of tricks. She plays a
well-loved healer named Mabuti. There is the scene showing Mabuti bewildered
with the contents of a heavy burden of a bag. Another memorable scene shows her
stealthily entering the house and promptly hiding her bag on an old trunk. Both
scenes are dazzling, delicious displays of thespic excellence.
The little moments though
are the ones I treasure. Try to watch Mabuti's facial gestures after every
healing session. A dog-eater of a neighbor gets his comeuppance from aggressive
canines. The neighbor seeks the help of Mabuti every time he gets bitten. We
see Mabuti with her charming smile after every session. There's a big change
however with her reaction after treating the neighbor's snake bite. The smile
is not as sunny as ever. It must have something to do with her being whisked
off her ride and the need to pay fare once more.
Another crucial scene is
Mabuti's partaking of the yummy Ilocano delicacy called “tupig.” She munches
them quickly and yearns for some more. She doesn't grab one right away. She
waits for the owner to look her way before asking for another piece. This
segment sets up beautifully to Mabuti getting hold of a treasure. She
seeks to dispatch of the money because it is not hers.
What would Jesus do? What
would you do if you get a windfall of money? Mabuti is put in a dilemma because
the money can save her mortgaged land. In the end, she adheres to the basic
rule of returning back things to the rightful owner.
Director Mes de Guzman is on a roll. Every film festival entry of his either wins the Best Picture award or nabs him the Best Director award. For the CineFilipino film Ang Kwento ni Mabuti, he gets both awards along with the Best Screenplay award. His stories capture vividly the rural scene in Nueva Vizcaya. The improvised home water system segment is a beauty. The army of insects shoo Mabuti away from going the wrong path. Then, there are those maddening landslides, jueteng, and verdant scenery. I relate deeply with the provincial values of his characters.
Nora Aunor may not be a
Miss World winner or a CineFilipino Best Actress winner, but she brought life
to a beautiful winning character. Mabuti is goodness personified. She refuses
to accept donations from patients. She shares her snack with a hot-headed bus
driver. She radiates with the glow of inner beauty. It is interesting to note
that her mother's advice is similar to what the mother of Miss World Megan
Young aptly said, 'you can never go wrong with goodness.' Indeed, the kindness
and honesty of Mabuti is worth emulating.
No Ordinary Story
By JONATHAN CATUNAO
MORALITY TALES
Young Jose Rizal threw the
remaining pair of his slippers into the river and said, “A slipper would be
useless without its pair.”
King Solomon--to settle a
dispute--decided to split an infant into two halves and effectively identified
the real mother.
From school textbooks to
the Bible and even in movies, we hold our breaths in anticipation on how our
hero or heroine respond to a moral crisis confronting him/her - from the simple
to the complex - because through the consequences of their decisions, we are
instructed and inspired.
In the Bernal classic Relasyon, Marilou (Vilma Santos) is torn as she accepts a part-time schedule
by lover Emil (Christopher de Leon). What mistress would reject a sharing
scheme proposed by the husband and approved by the legal wife?
Marilou’s dilemma is
child’s play compared to Sophie’s Choice. In Alan Pakula’s Holocaust tale,
Sophie Zawistowski (Meryl Streep) was asked to choose which of her two children
would be gassed and she has to make that decision immediately or both children
die. She survived the Holocaust but the decision to have her daughter gassed
hunted her all her life until its tragic end.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
In the thriller No Country
For Old Men, Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) never went through any conflict when
he found a stash of cash. From the time he got hold of the drug money from a
deal gone wrong, his only problem is how to run away with it as fast as he can.
His only rule in life: finder’s keeper. Directors Joel and Ethan Coen made sure
this isn’t about the right and wrong choices. This is simply about the hunt for
the man with the drug money. And when the hunter is a psychotic killer whose
weapon is a portable pressure tank, the movie becomes a bloody, violent thriller.
MABUTI’S WEAK PREMISE
What if the finder is a
poor woman with a heart of gold?
When I first heard of the
premise of the Aunor-De Guzman collaboration, I was skeptical because money is
overused in many art and literary pieces-- from El Filibusterismo to Fargo to Misteryo sa Tuwa, money seduces, money kills, money is burnt like a source
of plague when the damage is already widespread.
Dragging. Predictable. Gasgas
na tema. But no problem could be bigger for Ang Kuwento ni Mabuti than the
fact that it is coming on the heels of the majestic Thy Womb. How can a
suspect Mes De Guzman top a Dante at his best? Or more importantly, how can a
Nora top a Nora at her sublime peak?
The first frames rolled.
Mes De Guzman is a hypnotist. Nora Aunor is a chameleon. And Ang Kwento ni
Mabuti is as powerful a morality tale as any of the most revered in the genre.
A WOMAN OF VIRTUES
Nora Aunor plays Mabuti
dela Cruz. She is everything to a poor family of an unfortunate son and
daughter, playful granddaughters and a grumpy mother. They live in a remote
mountain hut “na walang magkakainteres”. She is hardworking and has heart to
help her townmates in anyway she can –she heals dog bites using saliva and a
white stone. Like Shaleha in Thy Womb, Mabuti is a source of joy to her
neighborhood. But unlike Shaleha in Thy Womb, Mabuti seemed fine with
everything coming her way. She can shrug off every crisis--impending or present--
and she calms everyone with a hug and a smile.
THE TEST
Then the real crises come,
her mother is terminally ill and the land is about to be repossessed due to
delayed payments. But a tougher test is coming. Five million pesos in cold cash
falls literally on her lap. The money is stained with the blood of rebels and
hold-up victims. The goodness in Mabuti is now under severe conflict.
NOT ENTERTAINMENT
De Guzman is no clown. He
is not for a show. He shows the truth. The sad truth. The truth we don’t want
to see. My friend Janna after watching Diablo became a fan and it’s no
mystery. Mes De Guzman’s storytelling style is without compromise. In fact –
and now I understand the disappointments of some – he has ‘no’ regard for his
audience. In the Star Cinema era of captive market, audience tests and audience
likeability, here comes the new breed of independent artists with their shaking
cams and unique stories waiting for an audience not to applaud but to be
appalled. Mes is not out to impress. He is out to pounce on his audience’s
heart and pierce it to awakening.
Dragging? Scenes after
scenes – I was hooked from the very start. The rugged mountainous trek, the
magic realism, the characters, the rebel war, the scene-stealing barangay
captain. Then there’s Nora.
CHAMELEON NORA
Nora’s prayer scene and
moon scenes in Thy Womb have not only given her four international awards. It
raised the bar of excellence even for her. And just when we thought Shaleha
cannot be topped, here comes another spellbinding performance from Nora. From
her walks with her grandchildren to her tending the irrigation to manning the
pigs, Nora is every move, every square inch Mabuti dela Cruz--the farmer. But
what amazes me more is Nora’s ability to make her two recent characters--Shaleha
and Mabuti-- entirely different from each other. Shaleha as the loving but
determined barren midwife and Mabuti as the cheerful and calm farmer and
faithhealer. How she manages to hide from me any similarities of acting is a
mystery. Technique? Meticulous guidance of De Guzman? Pure genius? Luck? Only
God knows, for even great thespians like Streep, Nicholson and Dench keep
acting mannerisms as they jump from one character to another. The total
distinction between Mabuti and Shaleha is simply creepy. Was it the same Nora
Aunor who played both? Or there are really two different Nora Aunor’s? Ghostly.
Creepy. Just look at the Mabuti looking around, clutching the bag of money all
alone in the rugged mountain road. Look at the eyes of fear and defiance. One
critic wrote that the performance is ‘one for the books’. I say – ‘a
performance someone must write a book about’.
BUT IS SHE REALLY THE BEST
ACTRESS?
As the film ends, Mes De
Guzman is clever enough not to hinge the greatness of this psychological moral
drama on surprising endings or dramatic twists.
At the final scene where
Mabuti is travelling with her family inside a van, I focused my attention on
Mabuti’s eyes.
Gone is the tortured look. Gone is the cheerful look.
There is now calm resolve
in her eyes.
In No Country For Old
Men, the finder of the money-- because of his clear practical stand-- knew
instantly he had to run away to hide the money but failed and met a tragic
death.
In Ang Kwento Ni
Mabuti, the finder of the money-- because of her virtuous nature--cannot
decide and was confused at the beginning. That eyes at the finale confirmed she
now knows what to do with it.
In an imaginary Best
Actress contest, multi-awarded Superstar Nora Aunor will be defeated by a
certain Mabuti dela Cruz-- a poor, virtuous woman who found a stash of cash.
Nora’s eyes expresses. Mabuti’s eyes conceals.
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